


I'm No Good (You Are Better Than Good)

by The_Phoenix_Heart



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brief mentions of other characters - Freeform, Clyde is trying his hardest at magic but it ain't working, Clyde needs a better dad, Familiars, Garrison hates his students, It's because he is a familiar, M/M, They are the most powerful generation of magic users yet, Token may be ooc, Witches and Wizards, it doesn't come up in the fic but he has a lot of raw power so he can't control it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 16:48:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Phoenix_Heart/pseuds/The_Phoenix_Heart
Summary: Clyde Donovan is bad at magic. But his familiar Token is there to remind him that he needs to stop putting himself down.





	I'm No Good (You Are Better Than Good)

**Author's Note:**

> Token may come off as OOC but it's all because he is a familiar and he is naturally protective. Clyde might also come off as OOC. Is it to late to stop the fic???
> 
> Or I just wanted to write an angry familiar reminding their wizard/witch that they are amazing. But I also wanted to write tyde.
> 
> This is a big AU so it's a series now.
> 
> Enjoy!

Ever since Clyde was just a little child he always wanted to be as good a wizard as his father, his mother, and his older sister Lucinda.

Clyde's dad specialized in potions. He was so good at his craft that he ended up becoming a certified master of potions. Watching his dad work on his potions was always so boring to Clyde, but he sat through it every time because the passion in his father's eyes, how fast yet careful his hands moved, and the effort that went into every stir of his spoon in his cauldron transfixed Clyde. Clyde's father was amazing at what he did and Clyde hoped to be just like him.

Lucinda, or Lucy as he calls her, is talented even for her young age. He looks in her eyes when she performs a spell and the happiness and giddiness in her eyes is so amazing. She whispers spells and the power behind them is so much that it's a wonder she hasn't already graduated from school. Her specialty is healing spells. Whenever he tripped over a rock and scraped his knee or fell out of a tree and bumped his head she also took him inside and healed him up. She would always say that she was lucky to have such a clumsy brother so she could get some practice. He was a little ashamed to admit that sometimes as a kid he would purposefully get hurt just so she could practice healing spells.

And then there was Betty Donovan, Clyde's mom. She was the most powerful witch he had ever seen. Watching her perform even the simplest spells, such as ones to clean the dishes, was a spectacle. Clyde loved his mother more than he loved anyone else. She was perfect as a mother and a witch. She was amazing with spells, potions, and healing. His mom had perfected voiceless spells, but always used said the spell whenever Clyde was around because he loved hearing them. He especially loved whenever she would say them in Dutch, her native language. Clyde aspired to be just like her. She was just so inspiring.

It became apparent very quickly though that Clyde was not his mother or his father's child.

He tried, he really did, but no matter what he just couldn't seem to get the hang of spell casting. He tried so hard, and he never seemed to live up to the expectations of everyone around him, or even his own.

Potions was a nightmare. It always exploded in his face like that poor kid in those movies he watched as a kid. No matter how carefully he cut the roots or how delicately he placed the drops of unicorn tears into his cauldron he could never get it right. The teacher always yelled at him and it hurt his ears so bad he started crying. Then everyone in the class would laugh at him for being such a whiny crybaby. He was a whiny crybaby, he had no reason to cry, so why was he crying?

Spell casting was only slightly better. He still sucked but at least Mr. Garrison didn't care enough half the time to yell at him. His spells always seemed to backfire on him, literally or figuratively. If it were a charm meant to levitate something it would sink into the ground or he would shoot up into the sky and give himself a concussion. If it were a spell with water he would accidentally flood the classroom. The worst one was when they were learning a spell to light a room and he accidentally set the entire place on fire.

Spell casting became worse for him when one time he was practicing at home and an explosion had happened. His mother and grabbed him and performed a shield spell but had died in the process. He remembered how everyone looked at him as if he was murderer and yeah, basically he was.

At first the kids were happy whenever his spells backfired so bad that they all got out of class, but eventually almost dying because of stupid Clyde and his incompetence got boring. None of the kids liked to hang around him except for Jimmy and sometimes Tweek. Tweek was another mess up in the class, not because he was bad at magic, but because he was always so stressed and filled with anxiety that he would be unable to perform a spell. Jimmy wasn't a mess up. He may have been disabled but when it came to magic he was awesome. His favorite spells were ones that dealt with speed, Jimmy was so confident in his abilities and Clyde didn't know how he ever be as confident as Jimmy.

Why was it that no matter where Clyde looked he would always find someone better than himself that he compared himself to? The thought made him want to cry and he would be crying about something that he shouldn't actually be crying about once again.

Clyde tried finding things that didn't deal with magic that he was good at. The only thing that stuck, that he was actually good at, was broom flying. It didn't directly involve magic so he guess that that was why he was able to actually do it. Broom flying was awesome. He felt so free. The wind in his face, the smell of a freshly waxed broom, and the speed at which he was moving, like he could escape all his problems, was so amazing. Unfortunately with his bad grades he couldn't be on the school broom racing team.

But still, on nights where it was fresh and clear and he couldn't get a wink of sleep, he would sneak out of his room with his broom and go out to field and spend the night just flying. He would also be sleep deprived and unfocused in class the next day, but it didn't matter seeing as he was as much a fuck up as usual.

Then at the beginning of their sixth year Mr. Garrison tells them that throughout the year they will be trying to get their familiars. Clyde can hear the hurtful whispers that aren't really whispers. "Clyde Donovan is such a bad wizard he won't even get something as weak as a rat." It's hurtful, but Clyde is used to it at this point, why start defending himself now?

He can tell Mr. Garrison doesn't think he'll be able to do it. Not only does Garrison not have any faith in his students, but also he always calls Clyde out for being a horrible wizard. The look he gives Clyde specifically when he says, "If you are unable to get familiar just be comforted by the fact that I don't have a familiar either and stole mine." Clyde doesn't want to hear the story of how Mr. Garrison stole his familiar, named by Garrison "Mr. Slave", so he just tunes him out.

Clyde doesn't want to steal anyone's familiar. If Clyde doesn't end up having a familiar than it'll be one less person to let down. If he does have one then he'll just have someone else in his life who sees him for the failure he is.

He decides to try it once at the very beginning of the year, just to get it over with. He isn't going to get one, that is one thing he knows for certain. Most of the greatest wizards in the world didn't get their familiar on the first try, so why should resident fuck up Clyde Donovan get his?

The spell is by no means simple or easy. He is certain that he has messed up about eight of the sigils and the shade of paint he's using is off and that's only the aesthetics of it. His Latin is shaky at best, yeah, he's not gonna get a familiar.

He recites the spell and is suddenly enveloped in light. He's drowning in it, but at the same time, it's comforting. He feels at peace in this light and he wonders for a split second, is this heaven?

The bright light is gone and Clyde is severely disoriented when he hears a fucking, "Meow?"

Oh fuck off. He has a damn familiar.

His familiar is a long and thin black cat with one purple eye and one golden eye. The cat is so stoic that it almost seems to be mocking him. He glares at the cat. Of all the things he can't do the one thing he can do is summon a fucking cat. He stops glaring when he realizes that the cat is deflating under his glare. He feels so guilty that he stops glaring at it and actually crouches down and holds out his right hand.

The jet black cat cautiously approaches Clyde, before it throws all caution to the wind and runs toward him and rubs its face in Clyde's hands. Clyde giggles at the affection and the way the fur tickles his hands. He begins to actually pet the cat and pulls him into his lap. Yes, the only thing he seems to be able to do right is summoning a familiar, which in the long run doesn't help as much as he would like, but it's something.

The cat seems to notice his insecure thoughts so it places its head on Clyde's shoulder and begins rubbing against his neck. Clyde giggles once again at how the cat tickles his neck. He brings the cat up to his face and gives him an eskimo kiss. The cat licks his nose and Clyde falls back onto the floor, which hurts a little seeing as it's made of wood. "...That was the most adorable thing I have ever seen..." Clyde whispers in a small voice. Clyde had always considered himself more if a dog person but this cat was making him the biggest cat person there ever was.

The cat just stretches and curls up on his chest and glares at Clyde until he pets the cat again. The cat purrs and is swiftly put to sleep. _This is great_ , thinks Clyde, _but now I can't get up_ . He smiles down at his cat. Well, maybe it's worth it. Besides this cat is super warm and his purring is really soothing and _why is the room getting so dark_? Clyde yawns and falls asleep, dreams of handsome and beautiful naked people dancing with him in a field on his mind.

* * *

The cat is a boy, which was a very uncomfortable exchange that Clyde would really rather not mention. Clyde names him Token, because the collar that Clyde gave him looked a lot like a Token and Token seemed to take the name awesomely so score one for Clyde. He knows how to name a cat.

Walking into class the very next day, on the third day of school with a cat on his shoulder is a shock to absolutely everyone there. What's worse is that he was late that day. He sees Kyle glaring from his seat next to Stan. Heidi Turner eyes go wide and right next to her Tweek feints. Mr. Garrison goes under his desk and pulls out a bottle of magic vodka and downs half of it with one gulp.

"Cl _y_ de?? What the _fuck_ are you doing with a _cat_ on your _shoulder_???" Garrison's speech is already slurring and he's emphasizing weird parts of the sentence. Clyde sweats but he decides to just go with it, "Well...this is my familiar."

"B _uuuut_ . Heh, butts. I'm gay. Why the _fuck_ is it on your _shoulder_ . And _Clyyyyyde_ I told you to _fffuckin_ steal it _after you graduated_ ." Clyde sighed and tried to keep calm. "Mr. Garrison I actually did manage to get a familiar on my first try and-" " _Y_ _OUR FIRST TRY??? PFFFFFF!! IF THAT'S TRUE THEN EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A FUCKING LIE! THE FUCK UP OF THE SCHOOL-AAAAAAAAH!"_

At that moment Token leapt off of Clyde's shoulder and started clawing at Garrison's face. Clyde ran toward the two and tried to pry Token off of Garrison's face but it took a full minute before Clyde managed to get him off of Garrison. Garrison, though he was drunk and scratched up, pulled out his wand and slurred out the spell to make a Principal's Slip. A thousand of them spewed out of the wand and Clyde found himself buried in them. He side and placed Token back on his shoulder and trudged forward to the principal's office.

Principal Victoria did not suspend him or even give him detention. She explained that it was in a familiar's nature to be protective over their wizard or witch and that it wasn't Clyde or Token's fault for what had happened, but instead Garrison's for acting out like that.

It comforts him to know that neither he or Token got into trouble, But at the same time he knows that Mr. Garrison wants them to suffer for what happened earlier. Sure enough when they return to class Mr. Garrison is directing all the ultra hard questions at him, but it's manageable, and he's used to not being able to answer hard questions.

During lunch he gets bombarded with questions of how he did it, and he doesn't know how to answer so he runs off with Token before they can ask anything else. He sits on a bench in front of the school pond and sighs, looking at his reflection. Token pawed at his hand and instinctively started petting the midnight colored cat. He smiled and pulled Token into his lap and started to scratch his belly. Token's long cat legs started to going crazy and Clyde let out a loud and gleeful laugh.

"Clyde? I heard a rumor going ar-OH MY GOD THE RUMORS ARE TRUE!" Oh fuck, he hadn't told Lucy about his familiar yet. "Uh...hey sis?"

Lucinda was shocked as she looked at the gorgeous coal colored cat in her brother's lap. "Clyde where did you get it?" Clyde tilted his head. He knew that Lucinda didn't have a familiar yet but that was such a weird thing to ask...unless she didn't believe him as well.

"Lucy I don't know how I managed to get it, but I did. I was just as surprised as you are." "Clyde Franklin Donovan don't tell me you stole cat to parade it around as your familiar." "WHAT NO I DIDN'T! I THOUGHT OF ALL PEOPLE YOU WOULD BELIEVE ME!" Clyde ran away as fast as he could, Token gripped tightly in his arms. Why couldn't he have this one moment of happiness! Why couldn't he relish in the fact that he managed to do something before his classmates! Why couldn't anyone, even his sister, see that he was telling the truth.

Clyde didn't attend school for the rest of the day. Token licked at his hands as he cried on his bed, happy that he didn't have a roommate and that being the only thing he was happy about. Token crawled into his arms and snuggled up to him. Clyde was comforted by the warmth that Token gave off so he gripped him tight as he cried his eyes out until he fell asleep.

Clyde didn't see Token glare at the door when his sister knocked on the door asking to be let in. Token moved his paw in a way that seemed like a spell that made all noise stop and his sister eventually gave up. Only then did Token return to his spot in his sleeping beauty's arms.

* * *

Months go by and slowly but surely the school gets used to the secretly destructive force of Clyde Donovan's familiar cat Token. Clyde is completely oblivious to the fact that Token has the entire school by the balls.

There is the time that Filmore Anderson, despite being a second year, got the bright idea that making fun of the fact that he could perform a fire spell better than Clyde by setting Clyde on fire. The next day they find out Filmore is in the infirmary with third degree burns. There is also the time that Shelly Marsh beat Clyde up for accidentally getting slime in her hair. No one knows what Token did to her, but the next day Shelly Marsh apologizes to someone that was not Kevin McCormick for the first time in her life.

Everyone considers telling Clyde that his familiar is a fucking protective psychopath but then they see Token glare at them and they lose all their will to tell him. The only people safe from Token's wrath are Tweek and Jimmy, because they are Clyde's best friends and they actually treat him with respect. The fucking cat has almost everyone terrified of Clyde and they wonder if Clyde actually summoned a demon cat instead of a normal one.

But when everyone else starts getting their familiars they realize that that is just the familiar way. They especially realize that when Nichole's familiar cat Nelly starts a war with Token over who is more scary and cares more about their witch/wizard. Garrison drinks a gallon of vodka in the background and everyone in the class without a familiar is half-tempted to join him.

Clyde congratulates Jimmy when he ends up with a parrot he names Timmy because that is all he can say. Clyde congratulates Heidi when she ends up with an adorable beagle named Scott. Clyde even congratulates Henrietta, the resident wicked witch in the making, on her red and black horse familiar Pete.

Slowly Clyde realizes that now that everyone else is getting their familiars, he isn't special anymore. Even if he managed to do it first in his class, and on his first try no less, it doesn't mean that he isn't still the class fuck up. It just means that it was a fluke. Everyone else can do it, he is slightly more average than he used to be.

It's on a particularly bad day where everything goes to hell.

Clyde wakes up late like always. He doesn't have anything to eat for breakfast and when he runs into class he slips and falls onto his back. He can hear giggles and Mr. Garrison facepalms so hard that people in China can probably hear it. Laying on the floor Clyde comes to the realization that this is what his life has become. He has become so accustomed to the laughs and face palms that he doesn't even react to that. Token licks his face and Clyde finally gets up and goes over to his seat in between Karen McCormick and Jimmy.

"Alright class today like I was saying,"-Garrison glares at Clyde when he says this and gets into a five minute staring battle with Token before returning to the lesson-"We will be having a special guest. Please welcome potions master Donovan." Those words send a cold shiver down Clyde's spine.

Things with he and his father hadn't been good ever since his mother had died. And he hadn't even told him about his familiar. Oh fuck and he was so bad at potions! This was a recipe for disaster and Garrison was grinning at him so evilly right now and it was _stressing him out worse than Tweek_.

Roger Donovan happened to notice the cat right next to Clyde at that moment. He glared at the cat. Oh, so the kid had finally managed to do something right. He looked away from his failure of a son and looked at the class. "Hello class. As you know my name is Roger Donovan, a master of potions. I'm sure that my son Clyde has mentioned me?" Clyde hadn't actually, their relationship had already been fractured when he entered the school so he hadn't exactly been keen on mentioning him. None of the kids said anything about Clyde not mentioning him so maybe he was in the clear?

"Today I will be teaching you one of the hardest potions there is in this world. This potion is called "Spring of a Thousand Wishes". While the title may lead you to believe it grants a thousand wishes, it simply is a potion that gives you incredible luck for an entire week. The reason why it is called "Spring of a Thousand Wishes" is because that is what it was originally believed to do. Now let us begin."

Clyde was now excited. Incredible luck for a week? He might be able to do something right with magic for once! He took all the notes his father was giving them on how to make the potion and he excitedly began.

He was extremely careful with each and every drop of ambrosia and bit of cherry tree root. He chopped up the golden apple with magic so that he could get the core and drop it into his pot. He sprinkled just the right amount of dried unicorn blood into the pot. He thought it would go well. He actually believed that everything wouldn't go wrong. Why the fuck did he get his hopes up?

It's when he is adding in the final ingredient, tears of a phoenix, and he still isn't quite sure what he does wrong. He doesn't know if he measured wrong or if he poured it in to quickly or something completely out of his control but even still the pot begins to shake and explode right before his eyes. A chip hits him in the eye and another one cuts his left hand's fingers. It fucking hurts but he can't move because his dad is right behind him and Clyde's eyes are tearing up. No one is laughing this time but that might just be worse than the laughter. The silence of it, so condescending and almost _pitying_. He looks at his father, who looks like he didn't expect anything else. The tears in his eyes break free of their prison and runs away before anyone can say anything, Token running right behind him.

* * *

Anyone who was in the dorms could hear Clyde's wailing. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that it's nothing different from what he is used to. So then why does it hurt so much?! Is it because his father was there?

Token crawls into his arms and rubs his face against Clyde's cheek, his tears slowing stop but it doesn't change the fact that he is completely and irrevocably heartbroken.

There is a knock on the door and Token is ready to intimidate them away when Clyde hears his father's voice, "Clyde? Can I come in?" Despite how shitty he looks, red eyed, black eye on his right eye, and a bruise on his chin from when he tripped coming into the room; he still opens the door.

"Hi dad." Clyde's dad only frowns disapprovingly at his son. "Clyde Donovan pack your things." Clyde freezes at those cold, uncaring words. "What?"

Clyde's father sighs and faces Clyde again, "Clyde clearly you aren't cut out to be a wizard. I thought that maybe you would grow out of it, and I was so excited when I saw that you had a familiar! But, I guess my hopes were wrong. Pack your bags. You are coming home and will start going to regular school."

Clyde's eyes are wide and terrified. _He can't leave_. He'll never see Jimmy or Tweek again. He'll lose all his connection with magic if he never graduates. Even though he knows he is bad at magic he doesn't want to lose it. "No dad please you can't!" Clyde can hear quiet growling behind him but he ignores it in favor of appealing to his father.

"Clyde my decision is final. This is for your own go-" Clyde loses it at those words and interrupts him, "MY OWN GOOD?! WHAT GOOD WILL THIS DO ME?! FUCKING TELL ME DAD! TELL ME HOW TAKING ME AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS AND STICKING ME IN A NEW SCHOOL WITH NEW PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M BAD AT MAGIC WILL HELP ME?! I'M NOT BAD AT MAG-" "YES YOU ARE YOU FUCKING FAILURE AND MURDERER OR A SON!"

The door slams and Clyde's head falls onto the door. "I-I. I'm...I'm not bad at magic! I'm not bad a magic! I'm just! I'm just! I'm just...Bad at magic..."

Clyde hears a poof behind him, but before he can turn around and investigate, a tall, lean, handsome black guy pushes him into the door and fucking _growls_ at him.

"QUIT SAYING THAT! YOU AREN'T BAD AT MAGIC! YOU MADE ME A COLLAR! YOU CAN PERFORM SPELLS JUST FINE! YOU WERE THE FIRST OF YOUR CLASSMATES TO SUMMON A FAMILIAR! AND ON THE FIRST TRY TO! IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT THAT THEY GO WRONG! I BET IT'S THE WAND YOU HAVE HONESTLY! YOU! ARE! NOT! BAD! AT MAGIC!"

Clyde is really confused as to who this person is, and why they are telling him the aren't bad at magic, when something they said makes him think. "...Token?!"

Token's eyes widen and he realizes that he shifted. Familiars shifting is a very uncommon thing, and very looked down upon by most. Clyde's eyes travel downward in curiosity and he realizes that yep, Token is naked. He scream and runs to the closet and throws jeans and a letterman jacket at Token. Token get dressed, a little clumsily and then turns to Clyde.

"I wasn't playing. You aren't bad at magic. You are just special. I'm sure that there is a logical reason why you are this way." Clyde tears up, a late reaction to what Token said earlier. He runs to Token and hugs him sobbing.

"Token thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Token smiles and puts his arm around Clyde.

"You're welcome Clyde."

* * *

The next morning Clyde walks into class with Token in human form right behind him.

Garrison drinks until he passes out in the middle of class.

**Author's Note:**

> Like it? Love it? Hate it? Indifferent to it? Tell me in the comments! Why am I acting like a fucking Youtuber lol.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who supported on this oneshot and watched me write it.
> 
> ((By the way I hate transferring fics, it takes so long to edit and I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of punctuation errors in the fic now))


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